Senedd members tackle ‘existential crisis' for democracy
Plaid Cymru's Adam Price, the first out-gay man in his party to be elected to national office, warned prejudices based on sex, race and sexual orientation have been reinvigorated.
He told the Senedd: "It is getting worse by the day, and it really represents an existential crisis for our democracy and our society."
Mr Price said: "For our democracy to be effective, it has to be diverse.
"Diversity trumps ability.
"It's a piece of evidence in social science."
The former Plaid Cymru leader called for a focus on representation of trans women and men, a community "under siege," to ensure their voices are heard in the Senedd.
Mr Price highlighted harmful comments below news stories involving him in recent weeks.
"That certainly won't deter me and I hope it won't deter anyone else," he said.
"But we've got to do something about it collectively, haven't we?"
Labour's Hannah Blythyn expressed concerns that Wales could go backwards in terms of equality of representation at the next Senedd election.
Ms Blythyn told Senedd members: "I very much made an active decision when I had the opportunity to stand in this legislature because of the make-up – that there were more women here, that it was more representative."
Jane Hutt, Wales' social justice secretary, acknowledged the rise of abuse, harassment and intimidation towards politicians, candidates and campaigners.
She outlined voluntary diversity and inclusion guidance for political parties which aims to ensure democratic bodies are truly representative of all the people of Wales.
Ms Hutt said safety costs will be exempt from spending limits for Welsh elections.
Conservative Altaf Hussain warned guidance on equal representation risks crossing a dangerous line.
He said: "Equality of access cannot come just by bureaucratic diktats or targets."
Plaid Cymru's Sioned Williams said progress on underrepresentation of women in politics has slowed, warning the voluntary guidance was published "far too late."
"Wales belongs to everyone," she said.
"Everyone must have a voice in our nation's future."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Voices: Could this be the way Starmer placates his revolting MPs?
Keir cannot afford another fiasco like welfare,' one Starmer loyalist told me, recalling the government's humiliating climbdown on proposed cuts to disability benefits after a revolt by Labour MPs. The prime minister knows the episode showed that his way of governing is unsustainable. He is consulting people widely this summer about how to turn things round. There's a fierce internal debate taking place. In Keir Starmer's right ear, Morgan McSweeney, his influential chief of staff, tells him to focus on wooing back voters in the red wall from Nigel Farage. In his left ear, soft-left cabinet ministers urge a more progressive approach to woo centre-left voters who have deserted Labour for the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. They argue that these lost voters outnumber defectors to Reform by a margin of three to one. The soft left's allies in Downing Street want Starmer to emulate Bill Clinton, who fought back against a right-wing populist – Newt Gingrich, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives – after a rocky start to his first term in 1993. One minister admitted: 'There is a battle over the direction of the government. There is only one person who can resolve it. Keir has got to decide for himself – based on his values, who he is, who he wants to be.' The left-ear whisperers want the PM to trust the instincts that are serving him well on foreign affairs and apply them to the domestic agenda, too. Starmer appeared to be tacking leftwards when he told Tom Baldwin for the paperback version of his biography, published on Thursday: 'We have to be the progressives fighting against the populists of Reform – yes, Labour has to be a progressive party.' He has hinted that he wants to tackle child poverty by scrapping the two-child benefit limit. The PM has nodded to Labour critics who argue – persuasively – that his government has sometimes acted left but talked right, and that it's no wonder, therefore, that it gets little credit from progressive voters. He said that issues such as clean energy, nationalising the railways and increasing the national minimum wage should be shouted louder from the rooftops. 'We should show we're proud of all that,' he told Baldwin. Starmer views this as part of 'telling a better story'. But you can only tell one if you know the direction in which you are heading. The battle isn't over yet; I'm told McSweeney is not convinced about a shift to the left. His critics say the shortcomings of attacking Reform head-on were illustrated when the science secretary Peter Kyle claimed Farage was on the paedophile Jimmy Savile's side in the heated debate over internet regulation. The attack line was reportedly approved by No 10, but it backfired. It was the sort of smear we might expect from Reform. The lesson for Starmer: Labour can't 'out-Farage Farage', and the public will vote for the real thing if Labour tries to look like Reform-lite. Allies of McSweeney believe the red wall will decide the next general election, so Labour's primary pitch must be to the white working class. His internal opponents insist that trying to re-run the 2024 election triumph, McSweeney's greatest hit, will not work next time. They dispute the idea that Labour 'won' the north and the Midlands last year, saying that it reaped the benefit of a split on the right between the Conservatives and Reform, and that Labour regained seats seized by the Tories in 2019 mainly because Tory voters switched to Reform. At the next election, Farage will likely hoover up the right-wing vote. Crucially, the left vote will be split this time – inflicting deep damage to Labour unless Starmer can appeal to left-of-centre voters. He won't do that by tacking right, cutting benefits for the disabled and pensioners or aping Farage. For Starmer to win a presidential contest against the Reform leader, being the anti-Farage candidate will not be enough: he will have to offer progressive voters more than he has offered them so far. Another reason why Starmer should listen to the buzz in his left ear is that the new socialist party launched by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana will present another alternative to disenchanted Labour voters. It already has 600,000 registered supporters. Starmer won't lurch to the Corbyn hard left – and rightly so. But the sensible decision he should make this summer is that it's time for Labour to live up to its name and its values, and stop pretending to be something it is not.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Kemi Badenoch says she no longer considers herself Nigerian
Kemi Badenoch has said she no longer identifies as Nigerian and has not renewed her Nigerian passport since the early 2000s. Speaking to Gyles Brandreth's Rosebud podcast, the Conservative leader, who was born in London and raised in Lagos and the United States, said: 'I'm Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents, but by identity I'm not really." Ms Badenoch explained she felt "home is where my now family is'. The Tory politician was born in Wimbledon in 1980 before her parents took her home to Nigeria. She was one of the last people to receive birthright citizenship because she was born in the UK before these rules were abolished by Margaret Thatcher the following year.
Hamilton Spectator
10 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Labour statistics director removed from job by Trump administration after bad jobs report
Labour Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said on X that the head of the Bureau of Labour Statistics had been removed from her post after Trump called for her firing. 'A recent string of major revisions have come to light and raised concerns about decisions being made by the Biden-appointed Labor Commissioner,' Chavez-DeRemer wrote to justify her removal of Erika McEntarfer as commissioner. While the Trump administration searches for a replacement, deputy commissioner William Wiatrowski will lead the bureau.
